1. Field
Example embodiments relate to a semiconductor device. Other example embodiments relate to a semiconductor device having pads electrically connected to an external appliance.
2. Background
Semiconductor devices include pads that electrically connect to external appliances. When packaging semiconductor devices, external terminals may be mounted on the pads through processes such as wire bonding. Recently, manufacturers have been using a chip-size packaging technique to mount ball-type external terminals on the pads. A pad may have a plane area substantially wider than a plane area of single elements (e.g., transistors, capacitors, resistors, etc.) constituting a semiconductor device. Due to the wide plane area of the pads, it may be difficult to manufacture highly-integrated semiconductor devices. In order to address this concern, the conventional art acknowledges a method of forming a pad structure having pads arranged in two rows.
FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating a plan view of a semiconductor device having a conventional pad structure.
Referring to FIG. 1, a plurality of pads 10 are arranged along an inner row. Another plurality of pads 10 are arranged along an outer row. The pad 10 has a rectangular shape. The pad 10 includes a first area 5 and a second area 7. The first area 5 contacts an external terminal. The second area 7 electrically connects to a lower interconnection 3. A plurality of via plugs 4 pass through an interlayer oxide layer (not shown) disposed (or formed) between the second area 7 and the lower interconnection 3. The via plugs 4 electrically connect the second area 7 to the lower interconnection 3.
The pads 10 are arranged in two rows such that a semiconductor device having the pads 10 may be highly-integrated compared to a semiconductor device having pads arranged in one row. As the semiconductor industry progresses, semiconductor devices are manufactured to perform more functions making higher capacity semiconductor devices more desirable. In order to manufacture a higher capacity device, the number of pads on the semiconductor device is increased. For instance, logical elements (e.g., a central processing unit (CPU)) require about a thousand pads.